Hamid Karzai

The Afghan president discusses the Taliban, opium and world security.

Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, tells Sir David Frost that Afghanistan and the battle there against the Taliban is at the centre of issues of world security in this century.

He says: "... It was the presence of terrorism in Afghanistan and their hold on Afghanistan that enabled them to go and strike us all over the world - in Afghanistan up to New York and Europe and Bali, Indonesia and all other places.

"We have to defeat them in this part of the world in order for us all to be saved in the rest of the world."

The interview tackles issues such as the resurgence of the Taliban and how long Karzai would like Nato troops to remain in the country. He talks about the suffering of the Afghan people, the battle to eradicate opium poppies and whether he plans to stand again at the next election in 2008.